Canadians figure prominently among this year’s honourees for industry achievement and meritorious service to ASHRAE, announced at the 2017 annual conference, which is currently underway in Long Beach, California. Notably, Luc Bertrand of Saint-Lambert, Quebec, and George E. Menzies of Burlington, Ontario, received the distinguished 50-year member award, marking their outstanding contribution to advancing sustainable technology in the built environment over the past five decades.
Erich Binder, president of Calgary-based Erich Binder Consulting Ltd, and Bert Phillips, president of UNIES Ltd. in Winnipeg, were in exclusive company as two of just seven recipients of the exceptional service award. Five other Canadians were part of a larger group of 56 professionals worldwide who received the distinguished service award. They are: Robert Bean, president of Indoor Climate Consultants, Calgary; Douglas Cane, retired, London, Ontario; Kamel Haddad, senior research engineer, CanmetENERGY, Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa; Michel Lecompte, vice president of engineering and R&D, RefPlus Inc., St. Hubert, Quebec; and Wahid Maref, a professor of engineering at École de Technologie Supérieure in Montreal.
Canadians also co-authored the article deemed the best submission to the ASHRAE Journal in the judging period. Hugh Crowther, vice president of engineering, and Yi Teng Ma, an applications engineer at Swegon in Markham, Ontario, were recognized for the article, Design Considerations for Dedicated OA Systems, originally published in March 2016.
Among other prominent conference events, incoming 2017-18 ASHRAE president, Bjarne W. Olesen, outlined the theme for his tenure — Extending Our Community — in his inaugural address. “I look forward to working with my fellow ASHRAE officers and members this year to extend our global community, adapt to new technologies and embrace our shared needs and objectives,” said Olesen, who is a professor at the Technical University of Denmark.
Joining him as an officer is Darryl K. Boyce, assistant vice president, facilities management and planning, at Carleton University in Ottawa, who was elected as treasurer for the 2017-18 term. Tim J. McGinn, a partner with DIALOG in Calgary, was also introduced as director-at-large for 2017-2020.
